


First meetings

by themerrymutants



Category: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Genre: Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-22
Updated: 2016-03-22
Packaged: 2018-05-28 10:27:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6325396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/themerrymutants/pseuds/themerrymutants
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The unicorn Professor X stumbles upon a changeling, fresh from being defeated at Canterlot and has a surprising response</p>
            </blockquote>





	First meetings

There was an almighty blast of magic as both she and the rest of her brethren, that had tried to invade Canterlot anyway, were blasted to Chrysalis knows where. The last thought she had before hitting the ground was whether or not she’d be found and when she was what would be done with her. 

She came to in a peaceful meadow even more starving than she was before. Luckily there didn’t appear to be anypony there. Just her. Hastily she shifted into her usual disguise: a blue pegasus with a darker blue speckled pattern on her legs, chest, and stomach, along with a ginger mane and tail. She’d be safe.. for now. Getting up on shaky legs she took in her surroundings trying to figure out where she was. No luck though. She’d never been in this part of Equestria. She was almost certain of it. 

“Hello there,” came a voice from behind her. She whirled around falling on her rump in the process. Oh no...oh no. How much had he seen? Was he going to hurt her? News was bound to have gotten out. There was an attack on Celestia after all. As he reached out towards her with a kindly expression she scrabbled back her illusion breaking as she did. Kind expression or no this could be a trick. Many things were a trick. So, _so_ , many things.

“P-please. Have mercy,” she squeaked as the rest of her illusion dissipated. She probably didn’t deserve it. She helped with a military attack on the governing body of this nation after all. Though what choice had she had? Orders were orders, you followed orders or else.

“Easy, easy,” he soothed wheeling back to give her room. “I’m Professor X. What’s your name?”

“Y-you’re not going to hurt me?” she asked incredulously. “You _do_ realize what I am.. right? What we’ve done?”

“What you are and _who_ you are aren’t the same thing. With some it is but that’s rarely the case. I prefer to see the two ideas as separate and completely different things,” he explained. He steepled his hooves going silent for a moment before speaking again. “Let me ask you this: would you have done those things on your own? Say if you were leading a small band of your own changelings?”

She genuinely had to think about that question, as well as his statement about there being differences between who and what somepony is. Honestly? She wasn’t sure. Though the threat of death was a rather persuasive one. She’d lived among ponies before, quietly, happily,  _peacefully_ , until she was dragged back to the Hive. 

“I don’t think so,” she finally replied. “We have to follow orders. Hive laws. If we don’t..it’s not pretty. I honestly didn’t do much during the invasion. I frightened a few ponies, tried to avoid the fight. I don’t like hurting others.”

There was a nod of understanding from the unicorn. “So you acted out of fear for your own safety? Trying your best to keep your damage to a minimum?”

She nodded looking down at her hooves.

“While I can’t promise you won’t be tried I’ll try my best to help others understand your actions,” he said. She was a victim, not an active aggressor. “So: what’s your name?”

“I..don’t have one. Changelings don’t have names. We don’t need one. We’re just parts. You don’t name the wheels of your chair do you?”

His face turned serious at that. That line of thought always hit a sore spot. He genuinely believed everypony, everything, in Equestria and beyond had a voice. Whether they realized it or not.

“Look at me,” he said sternly. She, reluctantly, did his expression softening when her eyes met his. “You are your own. You tried not to harm others even in the face of potential harm to yourself because of it, you feel fear, and you’ve felt genuine enjoyment in the company of others rather than seeing it as a means to an end.”

She froze at that. How had he known about them? Did others where she’d been know? Would her friends, upon the off chance of seeing her again, react violently? Had the hive ruined her chances of-

“I excel in mind reading spells. To the point where I’ve nearly forgotten how to turn it off,” he explained in response to the waves of fear coming off the Changeling. “I’m sorry for frightening you. I forget not everypony is used to it. I did notice something while looking at your memories of your life among ponies: you did have a name then. I could see memories of others greeting you. Their lips moved, but the sound was fuzzy, as if it’d been sloppily erased.”

“They _did_ erase it. Like I said: we’re to blend in, take on the lives of others, but never have one of our own, never get comfortable and settle in one place. I’ve held onto scraps of it though though. I had a friend who was an earth pony, a builder, he could make anything just as long as he had the parts. There was a pair of nagas too. Danielle and her daughter Karin. Danielle had a partner, a nurse. She was really kind and good at her job. Healing magic probably helped but she always had a smile on her face. Even when she cried. She wanted others to be happy. Magnet Maker was the one I was closest to. He used some weird sort of magic, it helped him get around, he said that he could figure out where he was just by using it. Something about magnets and how they work. Though it did have the side effect of sometimes making metal stick to him, that was a lot more amusing than it should have been. He’d do it to cheer me up when I was sad or distract me when I got scared.

He said I was his sister, I liked that. Having a family, people who cared about me just because I’m me. There was so much _love_ there...I’d never felt so much love in one place before or since. I miss them.”

Something clicked in the unicorn’s mind. 

“Brown earth pony right? Talks to his tools? Your brother: blind, pinkish pony, terrified of dogs?” When she nodded a mile wide grin spread across his features. “We’ve been looking for you for a long time. They came to me a few years ago looking for help. They said their friend, Enigma, had been taken by a group of creatures they’d never seen before and they had to find her before she got hurt.”

“You’ve seen them?” There was a pause. “They were looking for _me_?”

He nodded. “They haven’t stopped looking. Though..it might take some convincing to assure them that you are in fact the one they’ve always known rather than a copy.”

“Can we wait?” She asked. “It might help if they see me a bit healthier. I’m closer to what they’re used to then. We get like this when we don’t get much, if any, love in a while. D-don’t worry though! We don’t take love away from anyone so they can’t feel it anymore. I’m sure their stories will back that up.”

“I think it’d be better if you came clean now but I also believe you might have a point. Can you turn back to your disguise?”

She nodded a green light rippling over her form again until she looked like any other pegasi...well mostly.

“Any particular reason for the white wings?”

“They look pretty, and I like them,” she shrugged as she got up stretching one of her wings out to examine it. “Plus they look weird when they match the rest.”

That was fair enough. “Come on Enigma. Your friends are waiting.”


End file.
